A rosewood vanity and a swizzle stick

This vanity had been stored under a house (or in a shed?) for a while. I forget exactly where Katie said it had been but it was definitely needing some love. She was nearly going to give it away but then she found me.  I painted her large pine bookcase, some small side tables and this rosewood vanity.  I am also looking forward to painting an old kitchen hutch for her down the track. It's always lovely to have repeat customers.

The vanity was sanded smooth and cleaned well. I then painted it in ASCP Paris Grey. I used ASCP pure white to paint the trim around the drawers. I would normally do this free hand but I ended up using blue painters tape for a neater edge on this piece. I also painted the trim and decorative centre on the backing board white.  The pieces was then waxed and buffed for a loved deep sheen.

I don't have a before photo of the vanity but this matching stool will give you an idea of the timber and the state of it.  The stool has also been painted grey and I re-covered the top with a grey/green fabric Katie had on hand.

Katie is so happy with the painted vanity and says it now takes pride of place in bedroom, It did come with the original triplicate mirror but we decided that it looked better with out the attached mirror (the mirror really dated the piece) so she is using the centre mirror in her girls'' bedroom. I also painted the mirror in grey.

I also wanted to share a sweet little thing my daughter did for me. I was sitting down a few weekends ago and asked her to bring me a glass on water. This is what arrived.  

She used a frangipani from our garden and a skewer to make a little swizzle stick. I like her thinking. You could easily use this at a  garden dinner party for a nice little touch. I love that my daughter does nice things for me and makes an effort. Such a sweet girl.

I've got some lovely custom paint jobs coming up in the next few weeks so I'm looking forward to sharing them with you. 

Enjoy your Friday!

Fiona

French Chair Upholstery

I am sure a professional upholsterer is appalled that I am self taught and DIY but yet saying I upholster (it's probably more just recovering) but it's amazing what you can learn from the internet, books and experimentation.

It's also amazing what you can learn by paying close attention when you pull something apart. Take notes and photos of how it was put together and replicate it with new materials.

Steven found my blog from googling "Keeping chickens in Lilyfield" as he is contemplating some backyard chickens. When he realised I also restore furniture he asked me to revamp this french upholstered chair.

It looks okay but the springs and webbing were hanging down and broken and the fabric was very worn and smelly. The timber of the frame was also scratched and needing a new finish.  I stripped all the old fabric off which is very tedious with all the old staples. I use a tack claw which is a god send.

I repaired the webbing underneath with new jute and then painted the frame in a couple of coats of ASCP Graphite, and finishing the clear wax and a light distressing.  I then upholstered the chair using cardboard, foam, new fabric and gimp braid. If you are interested in a detailed tutorial for doing this yourself please read my post here.

Here is the chair without the gimp braid. It finishes it off very nicely and is quicker than making piping.

When using a patterned fabric such as this jacquard make sure you line everything up nicely and centre the damask. A nice even tension is one of the most important things when upholstering so you don't get crimps and puckers.

My trusty little helper keeping me company as I work. I love my dog so much. I really understood the attraction of dogs and the whole Man's best friend until we got Charlie but I certainly do now. 

Steven was very happy with the chair now. 

Me too, I think it's lovely and dramatic. All refreshed for another lifetime of use.

Do you like it?

Fiona xx

sharing at 
Miss Mustard Seed

Weekend and White Paint

Good morning! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. I worked/painted a lot of the weekend to finish several custom orders so I'm looking forward to a slower paced week now with most of the furniture finished and in its new homes. 

We did go to friends for dinner on Saturday night. It was extremely relaxed besides there being 6 little boys for a sleep over and that the husband had forgotten to mention to the wife that we were popping in for a drink - well it was so lovely and relaxed and we drank loads of champagne and laughed and talked and decided to have dinner together so we ordered take away pasta, all very easy and delicious. So perhaps it was good my friend didn't have warning or time to do any preparation. I love spontaneous evenings like that.

and I love it when my husband brings me flowers - he loves me! Poppies are definitely one of my favourites.

I painted several white pieces this weekend. The first was a gorgeous chest of french style drawers.

These were snapped up from the before photo and my client asked for them to be white. Crisp and classic.

The little container on the top was my maternal grandfather's. It would have been for collars and cufflinks. It has his initials on top. I love it and have had it since I was a teenager. It's so nice having things that hold such nice memories. Our grandad lives with us for many years when we were growing up and I loved him so much. This piece was always on his dressing table.

Here is the before photo of the chest of drawers. I love the shape of these pieces but not the original finish. Too dated.

I also painted a queen bed for Caroline and Tim. I have also painted their bedside tables recently. I didn't take a before photo but it was all pine. The pine bled a lot and after two coats of Zinsser 123 Bullseye I ended up cracking out the shellac based Zinsser BIN and that worked a treat. Lots of sanding on this piece to make it beautifully smooth. It''s painted in Porters Chalk Emulsion and finished in ASCP Clear Wax. 

and here are the bedsides. They are so cute and sweet. I love them.

So our house has a lot less furniture in it this week which is great. I have a doctors appointment this morning to sort out my coughing - it's driving me nuts still. Then I'm finishing off a french chair (that I'll share tomorrow) and having lunch with a friend. Lovely!

hope you've all had a lovely weekend also
Fiona xx

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Art Deco Duck Egg Blue

Good morning! and it looks like it's going to be another gorgeous day here in Sydney. I am hoping to get a few pieces finished today. I've got a few too many pieces on the go at the moment. The custom furniture painting side of my business has been booming and while it means less freedom of creativity for me and I find it a little stressful making the piece exactly how the client wants it, there is the plus side of not having to sell the piece at the end.

Yesterday after a morning of interviewing medical secretaries for one of my business consulting clients I had time to finish this art deco sideboard I painted this week for Kathy. Talk about a diverse day but I love my good working life. I'm never bored anyway :)

The sideboard is very old, made from plywood and was pretty grubby with stains and paper glued in the base of the drawers and cupboards. Old plywood can be difficult to paint as it will bleed. I used two/3 coats of Zinsser on this before painting in ASCP Duck Egg Blue.  The inside is painted in Porters Chalk Emulsion Standard base White. The ply was in pretty rough shape and i spent a lot of time sanding before I started painting in between coats and then before waxing. The surface is now very smooth and lovely. There are a couple of cracked bubbled places on the front of both doors where the plywood has split. I didn't want to start sanding this and possibly split the ply even more so Kathy and I agreed to leave the issue alone and just appreciate the imperfections of age.

mid way waxing and buffing

The paper was going to be very difficult to remove so we decided to wall paper over it. I have started cutting the lovely wallpaper given to me by the charming Arif at Shady Designs. Kathy will glue it in.

I replaced the old wooden handles with pretty cut crystal ones.  If you wish to purchase these handles please send me a message. $8 each plus postage.

Look how they sparkle in the sunlight.

Do you like it? 
Can you imagine it in a coastal inspired bedroom?

I always worry a little about huge pieces painted in Duck Egg Blue and if it's going to look "too much" but I always end up loving them.

It's a new life for this piece anyway.

Fiona xx

Painting Country Pine Furniture

Let's take some dated country pine furniture and give it a little French flair and a new life.

Don't get rid of your old furniture, especially if you like the shape of it, instead let me help you paint it.  If you live in Sydney you can hire me to paint your furniture or if you want to tackle it yourself, read below on how to take some issues specific to country pine furniture.

Aaron and Abbey had these solid pine bedsides for several years. They liked the shape but wanted to give them a new look so they asked me to give them a new look. When they dropped them off I showed them some different pieces in my home painted in various whites and they settled on Dulux Limed White Quarter Strength. This is one of my favourite muted whites. It is more beige/grey than cream, which is an important factor for me and my dislike of yellow hues.

In the photo above it is difficult to see the imperfections in the timber but these bedsides had been aged with fake wormholes. Manufacturers will often do this to country pine to give it a look of having survived a borer attack. The look is achieved with poking a sharp skewer type implement into the timber to give it "holes". When you paint this timber the holes all show up drastically as black spots and ruin (in my opinion) the white finish.

I find the best method is to put down a layer of primer first as this immediately shows up all the issues. Then once the primer is dry, find and fill the holes with wood putty. I just use my finger for this rather than a spatula. It's slightly messy but if you are refinishing furniture you are probably already used to mess. Once the timber putty is dry, sand smooth and give the piece another layer of primer. You may need to give a second round of timber putty and primer. I also found some small spots where the pine was bleeding through the paint (pine is renowned for bleeding from its knots) so my third and final coat of primer was Zinsser BIN - the shellac based one. It's such a trusty product to have on hand. The ultimate problem solver.

When you are happy with your smooth surface and have primed all the timber putty bits you can start painting. I gave these an additional three coats of Limed White for solid coverage.  I sanded them smooth and gave them a couple of top coats of wax for durability. I also changed over the handles to some lovely black/bronze knobs - much more suitable for these beauties than the iron rings.

Get the dog to stop photo-bombing 

and 

voilà!

Abbey and Aaron were delighted with their "new" pieces. Don't they look beautiful and refreshed?

There's nothing like paint (and some time and effort) to give country pine some french flair.

 Fiona xx

Antique French Display Cabinet

I've recently sourced some beautiful antique french pieces. At first I hesitated buying this beautiful display cabinet only because I wasn't sure if I could be trusted with all that lovely old glass and the very fragile mirror at the back of the cabinet. The mirror is only a few millimeters thick and is glues onto ply at the back as is the case with many antiques. However I decided it was too beautiful to pass up and worth the risk. Luckily I didn't break any of it.

I'm so glad to have been able to give this lovely piece a Lilyfield Life makeover.

It was timber and wasn't in terrible condition. There was some evidence of borer but that's pretty much to be expected in these very old imported pieces. The borer had been chemically treated and there was a little lingering smell so I cleaned the cabinet thoroughly. Timber that has been chemically treated can be a hassle to paint white so I decided this piece needed to be moody ASCP Graphite. A great backdrop to whatever would be displayed inside.

Each pane of glass is bevelled edged and so beautiful. The huge door is just divine and I was terrified of breaking it. While I was working on it, I had an antiques dealer come to the house and he was amazed by this piece, it's age and good condition. He said I sold it for an absolute bargain but that's fine by me. Good value is what I'm all about.

I had a customer Kathy who I knew was looking for a display cabinet for her shop, Kate Devine, in Newcastle so I sent her a photo, dimensions and pricing and she said Yes Please!

Below you can see the graphite unwaxed and how it changes depth and colour once you apply the wax. You can also see that I didn't tape the glass or anything when I painted - I just painted right over the edges and then when the paint was dry, I carefully used a razor blade to scrap off the paint. This is very easy to do with chalk paint.

The cabinet had glass shelves but the brackets were just wonky screws so I bought Kathy some more secure brackets but I didn't install them as I wasn't sure at what height she wanted the shelves. I also replaced the dodgy screw that was being used as a handle with a pretty crystal knob.

Oh I think this piece is so pretty!

If I owned a shop I'd keep it myself. Oh wait, if I had a shop it would be a painted furniture shop so I would be selling it anyway :)

I was a bit worried about the piece being transported to Newcastle considering how fragile the glass and mirror are but my fears were allayed when Kathy's husband turned up - he's a courier and he came very prepared! 

I love seeing how Kathy is using it in Kate Devine. I'm definitely going to have to check out her beautiful shop when I'm next in Newcastle.

Another beautiful piece of furniture that I've had the pleasure to work on. I'm so honoured to be part of this one's history. I know that sounds funny but it's honestly how I feel about some old pieces.

Fiona x

White Shabby Chic Blanket Box and Fabulous Market finds

I hope everyone had a lovely Mother's day yesterday either with your own mother or your kids. I missed my own mum but was very spoilt by my beautiful husband and kids. Gorgeous handmade cards full of love, fresh flowers, breakfast, new jammies and slippers, earrings and of course my vintage flower planter all restored by Phil. I am so grateful for gorgeous children and a thoughtful husband. Although I say gorgeous kids they did manage to spend the morning fighting and bickering with each other so much so I thought about heading out to lunch by myself. Instead I spent the afternoon in bed trying to get better as I'm still sick and it's driving me a little bonkers.

However I was also unbelievably blessed by the thrifting gods (and a lovely market dealer who I always check out when I'm out and about). We had a little stroll up to Rozelle after breakfast yesterday for a coffee and Phil suggested we cruise around the markets (brave, brave man). I had a great time finding these beautiful treasures all for amazingly good prices. Talk about a happy day!

The big silver dish is so heavy and just divine. It was made in England for Carlton Hotels and obviously has had a lifetime of use. I can just imagine it full of ice and little drink bottles on a party table - or even a roast chicken and all the trimmings. I can't wait for a chance to use it, you'll see more photos of it I am sure.  The bone handled knives are always a favourite in our house and the salt dishes and keeper are gorgeous and match some that my mother left me.

As far as furniture makeovers goes I couldn't walk past this lovely old blanket box a while ago - it's oak but I didn't like the timber finish at all - too multi-toned. I thought it would look much prettier in shabby chic white. I did get a few negative comments on facebook about painting the old oak white but seriously, come on, it was UGLY! Anyway I run a furniture painting business, what do people expect?

From this

to this.

MUCH PRETTIER I SAY!

It did take loads and loads of white paint (ASCP Pure White) - I can't quite remember but probably 6 or 7 good coats. I then sanded much more heavily I usually do because I wanted a shabby chic look. I also used ASCP Clear Wax for the top coat and buffed for a lovely sheen. I can just imagine this filled with vintage faded floral quilts. Channeling Rachel Ashwell for this one.

Seeing I'm not really shabby chic myself I had to make do with stripes.

I had a lot of offers to buy this but it was first in, first served and it was snapped up by the lovely Roxanne.

I do understand the need to leave some pieces timber but this definitely wasn't one of them.

What do you prefer - the before or after?  

Did you have a lovely mother's day? Did your kids fight as much as mine did? What is that - is it that I was getting attention? I don't know but it is so exhausting when they fight. Thank god they usually get on well.

Fiona xx